Now while I appreciate that it is a pretty well written argument, it still brings a certain tone of intolerance and slight ignorance that has always bothered me with any religion. I suppose it is hard to do unbiased research and really it all comes down to wording.

One thing I’ve never liked when it comes to these types of arguments is people equating that paganism=witchcraft. I actually got into an argument with an old youth pastor about this and it is why I left my old church. Paganism is simply the worship of multiple gods and is generally followed by celebrating many different feasts honoring and attempting to placate the many gods much in the way we honor and attempt to please God. There are as many and as varied pagan religions as there are Christian religions. Where do you think the Catholic saints came from?!? There are also many forms of witchcraft. There is white magic (things done in what is an attempt to do good) and black magic, which is the evil many people speak of. And while it may be considered “un-Godly”, wicca is not inherently evil. It is actually very in tune with nature and this world that we currently live in. One could say that some of these ancient religions are less concerned with the world here-after but are more in tune with the one in which we currently live. Two of my best friends are wiccan, and they have treated me with nothing but loving kindness since i have known them. They have never forced any of their beliefs on me and they have always been welcome and understanding of mine. They have been there for me when other, so-called “Christian” friends have not. And really all their religion is is a different set of holidays. They do not “cast magic spells” or put hexes on people. They make herbal remedies and use what God has created rather than the things man has created. So I suppose good vs. evil really comes down to individual people. Every religion thinks theirs is correct and all the others are wrong. Paganism would be the least of my worries, because it has more or less been a welcoming religion. There are always room for more gods in most of their eyes. There are very few “pagan crusades” mentioned throughout history. But, there are countless tales of Christians and Muslims slaughtering hundreds in the name of God. If you truly believe paganism is evil, then take comfort that by your beliefs they will suffer for all of eternity. However, it is not our place to inflict suffering upon people in this world. Live and let live I say. If your beliefs are strong enough, no one could sway you regardless of your associations with them. People complain about our so-called “pagan holidays”. They are not really pagan any longer. We do not celebrate “pagan” holidays, we celebrate “corporate” holidays. So condemn them all you want, but by shopping at Wal-Mart at any time you are still participating in their “religion”.

On a side note, I like the part comparing Halloween to Purim. I know that some Jews celebrate Purim much in the same way we celebrate Halloween- dress up and party.

I went to Torah Study last night and like many times before, the Twelve Tribes of Israel came up. People were mentioning which tribe they were descended from and I was wondering how one would determine this? So I started to do some research….

It seems that the simplest was to claim a tribe is based on where you are from. The United States/North American is mostly descendants of Manasseh. Which works fine for the part of me that is Native American, but the rest only came to the United States in the past century or so.

So I tried to see who came from Italy. But there really is no tribe associated to Italy or any of southern Europe really. Perhaps this is because it was the home of the biggest Pagan empires: The Greeks and Romans. The closest I could find was Reuben, whose descendants are from Northern France. So they suggested that by looking into the heraldry of your name and coat of arms (this is much easier to do if you are from England, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales, by the way) that you could associate the symbols of your family heraldry to that of one of the tribes. So I started researching my name, which I’ve never really done. I’ve tried to research my direct ancestors, but never my name in general.

One article I came across said how much of the the area my family comes from (Reggio di Calabria) was actually destroyed by Mt. Etna on my birthday in 1908! Which is funny because this is shortly before my great grandparents were born and would have moved to the states! I also learned that before that our descendants came from nearby Krotonas, Greece and settled Crotone and Cotronei, Italy (notice the similarity in the spelling!). Cotronei would be the plural of Cotroneo, meaning everyone in that city is a Cotroneo!

But I digress. I failed to find a picture of the Cotroneo or any similar name coat of arms anywhere online for free. So I decided to look up the Calabrese flag. It’s a knight on horseback killing a dragon next to a person praying. Not very useful in relating to the tribes. Another flag shows a crown over a sheild with four poles and two equilateral crosses all surrounded by an olive wreath. Olive wreath shows promise. Still another flag shows a tree, two equilateral crosses and a stone pillar- perhaps slightly more useful. What about Napoli? A black mustang on a yellow background- useful still. Finally there’s the Sicilian flag featuring the trinacria (which funnily enough looks like a three legged swastika) and the head of medusa. Fairly certain none of the tribes of Israel used a swastika. One thing these flags all had in common is that they were on red and yellow backgrounds.

Still none of this helps. I’m pretty sure my family was straight up pagan. Further research shows that while their are some Levite descendants in Northern Italy, most Italians are not of Israelite descent and are in fact descendants of Greeks, Canaanite and Edomites (the arch-enemy of Israel). It is possible that through migrations and mixes of Greeks, French and Arabs that all occupied Sicily at one point I could be descended from any one of these lost tribes or none. I could go through my mother’s genealogy, but it is such a mix (Irish, German, Native American and Bohemian) that I could still belong to any one of the tribes. Alas, this brings us to the second option- associating oneself with whichever tribe whose characteristics you share. This is the Israeli personality test!

So, upon some semi-extensive research and the creation of a rough little chart of positive and negative qualities, I can most relate to Reuben (emotional, empathetic, independent perfectionists), Nephtali (faithful, modest, reliable, musical, and needing a partner), or Issachar (intellectual, hard-working, lacking common sense, down to earth, pleasure seeking, know-it-alls with dominant women-folk).

So at the end of the day I really didn’t find the answer to the question I originally sought. But I did learn that you can’t define yourself just by your name. And I did learn some interesting things about the dispersions of ancient peoples, the migrations of peoples and the development of cultures and languages. And I also found interesting links between things like the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 signs of the zodiac or the 12 birthstones and the 12 stones of the breastplate. I suppose anything throughout history can be tied to anything else in history or in religion or culture. It’s all about symbolism and at the end of the day a picture is worth a thousand words. If I knew what to do with it, I would go back to school and study symbolism, just because it is so deep and fascinating.

Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.
My life has become one giant crazy random happenstance.